Collisions involving high-energy lead nuclei at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider generate a powerful electromagnetic field capable of displacing protons and converting lead into ephemeral gold nuclei.
The lead ions (208Pb) in the LHC pass by one another without direct collision. During electromagnetic dissociation, photons interact with the nucleus, causing internal vibrations that result in the ejection of a small number of neutrons (2) and protons (3), leaving behind the nucleus of gold (before gold 203Au). Image credit: CERN.
The transformation of base metal lead into the precious metal gold was a long-held aspiration of medieval alchemists.
This enduring pursuit, known as Chrysopia, may have been spurred by the recognition that the relatively common lead, with its dull gray color, bears resemblance to gold.
It has since been established that lead and gold are fundamentally different chemical elements, and that chemical means cannot facilitate their conversion.
The advent of nuclear physics in the 20th century uncovered the possibility of transforming heavy elements into others through processes such as radioactive decay or in laboratory settings involving bombardment by neutrons or protons.
Gold has been artificially generated through such means previously, but physicists from the Alice Collaboration at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have recently measured lead’s conversion into gold using a novel mechanism that relies on close interactions between lead nuclei at the LHC.
High-energy collisions between lead nuclei can lead to the formation of quark-gluon plasma, a state of high temperature and density believed to represent conditions shortly after the Big Bang, initiating phenomena we now recognize.
Simultaneously, in more frequent instances where nuclei narrowly miss each other without direct contact, the strong electromagnetic fields they generate can provoke photon-nucleus interactions, potentially uncovering more exploration avenues.
The electromagnetic field produced by the nucleus is particularly potent due to its 82 protons, each carrying a fundamental charge.
Additionally, when lead nuclei are accelerated to extreme speeds at the LHC, the electromagnetic field lines become compressed into thin layers, extending laterally in the motion direction, generating transient pulses of photons.
This phenomenon often triggers electromagnetic dissociation, where photons interact with the nucleus, causing vibrations in its internal structure and leading to the release of a limited number of neutrons and protons.
To fabricate gold (with 79 protons), three protons must be removed from the lead nuclei in the LHC beam.
“It is remarkable to witness our detectors managing direct collisions that produce thousands of particles, while being sensitive to scenarios where merely a few particles are generated,” said a researcher.
The Alice team employed a zero degree calorimeter (ZDC) to quantify the number of photon-nucleus interactions, correlating them to the emission of zero, one, two, and three protons related to the production of lead, thallium, mercury, and gold, respectively.
While the creation of thallium and mercury occurs more frequently, results indicate that the LHC currently generates gold at a rate of approximately 89,000 nuclei from lead collisions at the Alice collision point.
These gold nuclei emerge from collisions at extremely high energies, colliding with LHC beam pipes or collimators at various downstream points and swiftly fragmenting into individual protons, neutrons, and other particles, lasting mere seconds.
The analysis from Alice shows that roughly 86 billion gold nuclei were produced during four significant experiments across two runs of the LHC, equating to only 29 picograms (2.9*10-11 g) in mass.
With ongoing upgrades to the LHC enhancing its brightness, Run 3 yielded almost double the amount of gold as observed in Run 2, although the overall quantity remains trillions of times less than what is necessary for jewelry production.
Though the technological aspirations of medieval alchemists have been partially fulfilled, their dreams of acquiring wealth have yet again been dashed.
“Thanks to the distinctive capabilities of Alice’s ZDC, our current analysis marks the inaugural systematic detection and examination of gold production signatures at the LHC,” states Dr. Uliana Dmitrieva, a member of the Alice Collaboration.
“These results extend beyond fundamental physics interests and serve to test and refine theoretical models of electromagnetic dissociation, improving our understanding of beam loss— a significant factor influencing the performance limitations of the LHC and future colliders,” adds Dr. John Jowett, also of the Alice Collaboration.
A new study will be published in the journal Physical Review C.
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S. Acharya et al. (Alice Collaboration). √sNN= 5.02 Proton emission in ultra-fine Pb-Pb collisions at TeV. Phys. Rev. C 111, 054906; doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.111.054906
Our retina may be made to see the vibrant shades of blue-green
Mikecs images/aramie
Five people witnessed a strong green colour that has never been seen in humans before, thanks to devices that could allow them to experience typical vision.
It recognizes color through the retina behind the eyes. This absorbs each of three types of photodetector cone cells (called S, M, L) that usually absorb the blue, green, or red ranges and send signals to the brain. When you see something on the blue-green edge of the visible spectrum, there is a overlap in the wavelengths you detect, which activates at least two types of cone cells simultaneously.
ren ng At the University of California, Berkeley, I wondered what colour people perceived, whether or not only one type of cone is activated in this part of the spectrum. He was inspired by a device called the OZ, developed by other researchers studying how the eyes work, using lasers that can stimulate single cone cells.
Ng and his colleagues, including the scientist who built the OZ, upgraded the device so they could supply light to a small square patch of about 1,000 cone cells in the retina. Stimulating a single cone cell does not produce enough signals to induce color perception, says Ng.
Researchers tested five upgraded versions, only stimulating M-cones in this small area of one eye, while the other eye was closed. Participants said they saw the blue-green colour the researchers called Oro. “It’s difficult to explain. It’s very wonderful,” says NG who also saw Oro.
To confirm these results, participants underwent a color matching test. I looked at the second colour until it matches as closely as possible the olo and the second colour that each could tune into any shade on the standard visible spectrum via the dial. They all dialed until it turned violent blue-green.
In another part of the experiment, participants used the dial to add white light to either the oro or the vibrant teal until it was closer to match. All participants diluted Oro. This supports more intense among the two shades.
Andrew Stockman At University College, London describes the study as “a kind of fun,” but with potential medical consequences. For example, the device can one day allow people with red-green color blindness to experience typical vision, which is difficult to distinguish between these colors. This is because conditions can be caused by both M and L cones, which are activated by light wavelengths with very similar states. Stockman said this should be tested in exams, but if you stimulate one more than others, people could be able to see a wider range of shades.
A group of National Maritime and Atmospheric Administration workers, who were terminated in February, rehired in March, and then fired again in April, claim they experienced payroll issues during that time and did not receive their health insurance plans or essential documents.
Kayla Besong, a physical scientist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, described the situation as intentional chaos and weaponized incompetence. She revealed that she missed one of her final paychecks and was later rehired and fired for the second time after issuing a Tsunami Alert.
Another worker mentioned having to undergo a $70,000 operation without proper insurance coverage.
After initially terminating more than 600 probation employees in February, which included hurricane hunters, meteorologists, and storm modelers, the Commerce Department and NOAA were ordered to reinstate many of them in March. However, after the Supreme Court suspended some of the reinstatements, NOAA decided to fire the workers for the second time.
Communication issues prevented workers from receiving unemployment benefits and paying out-of-pocket for healthcare costs that should have been covered. Civil servants highlighted these challenges faced by NOAA workers, urging for better support.
Despite multiple attempts to reach out for interviews, neither NOAA nor the Commerce Department responded to NBC News.
Concerns about lack of planning and deliberate chaos have been raised by critics, pointing out the challenges faced by federal employees.
The concerns were outlined in a letter addressed to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, accusing the Ministry of Commerce of engaging in illegal conduct.
Limited communication and lack of proper documentation added to the confusion for affected NOAA workers, who had to rely on former colleagues for assistance.
Former employees shared their struggles with receiving proper information and dealing with administrative issues.
Despite the challenges, some workers remain hopeful of returning to their jobs once the situation is resolved.
The uncertainties surrounding the employment situation have left some workers worried about their future prospects.”
Seven years ago, Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg testified for the first time in Congress. After a two-week boot camp by lawyers, he answered questions at three consecutive Buck-to-Buck hearings in two days of baptism by fire to prepare him.
Zuckerberg, 40, has been practicing more since. He made eight appearances before Congress and testified at least twice in court. He defends his company, previously known as Facebook, on issues such as privacy, child safety, and the spread of disinformation.
As early as Monday, Zuckerberg will once again be in a hot seat. This time, as a marquee witness in a landmark federal committee lawsuit accusing Meta of breaking antitrust laws. Regulators sued the US District Court company in the District of Columbia over the acquisition Instagram And WhatsApp says it used “buying and boring strategies” to maintain its monopoly on social media.
Zuckerberg’s turn as a serial witness has become a powerful symbol of Washington’s growing frustration with the power Silicon Valley holds, spurring attempts to curb the tech industry. Under President Trump, the technology chief is welcoming with the administration in hopes of regulators taking softer hands, but his appointees have shown continued scrutiny.
At Capitol Hill, lawmakers have stepped down as Zuckerberg, accusing him of lying and are personally responsible for various social harms. Legal experts said previous tough questions could help him during the expected seven-hour testimony defending Meta in antitrust law.
“He seems to be more aware of the audience he’s talking about compared to his previous years,” said Adam Sterling, Associate Dean at Stanford Law School. “Whether it’s a deposit, a lawsuit, or in front of the Senate, he can actually create a message to that recipient.”
Meta and the FTC declined to comment.
It’s a far cry from Zuckerberg’s start in his Harvard dorm room 21 years ago. After building “Facebook,” he dropped out of school and moved to Silicon Valley to build a social network. His successes and failures were publicly scrutinized.
In 2021, he renamed his efforts to cut some of the company’s packages to Meta. He recently courted Trump. This month he visited the White House to try and persuade the president and his aides to settle the FTC lawsuit.
Government scrutiny and legal challenges did not inflict permanent damage on the company. Meta’s stock price has more than doubled since Zuckerberg first appeared in Congress.
Zuckerberg is likely to face tougher times in the stands in antitrust trials, legal experts said. Congressional hearings feature spectacular features by lawmakers, each limited to a few minutes. The FTC lawyers plan to bake Mr. Zuckerberg for hours. They also have a chunk of his emails and other communications and will ask him to defend documents that prove his company’s maliciousness.
“Trials are another beast as the other counsels are well prepared, ask better questions and keep focused on their cases,” said Nu Wexler, former policymaker for Meta and principal of Four Corners Public Relations.
In 2017, Zuckerberg testified in Dallas in a trial by video game company Zenimax Media about intellectual property theft claims. He also testified in 2023 during an FTC trial in San Jose, California to block the acquisition of Meta’s Virtual Reality Company.
Now, the FTC is asking Judge James E. Boasberg to convict Meta of antitrust violations, which is “exposed to more in danger,” said Katie Harbus, former public policy director for Meta and chief executive of consulting firm Anchor Change.
For the first half of Meta’s history, Zuckerberg has stepped away from the unscripted public appearance. In 2010, he groped through interviews at a technology conference and struggled to answer privacy questions as sweat beads ran through his face.
Most of his public witness experience came before Congress.
Zuckerberg faced a major backlash from Washington State Senators after the 2016 presidential election. Reports have emerged that Facebook has given political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica access to people’s social networking data without consent.
That led to Zuckerberg’s appearance at a packed hearing in Congress in April 2018. His lawyers guided him to calm down when interrupted and to postpone answering harsh questions.
“My team will be back to you,” he said multiple times during the hearings.
The following year, Zuckerberg was faced with questions from the House Financial Services Committee on the security and security of the plans of a cryptocurrency company called Libra.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, interrupted Zuckerberg about misinformation in political ads. He frowned at times, sometimes he struggled to find the answer.
California’s president Maxine Waters, who was then Democratic chairman of the committee, accused Zuckerberg of leading the company’s fate to users.
“You’re going to step into your competitors, women, people of color, even our democracy,” Waters said.
“I don’t think I’m an ideal messenger for this right now,” replied Zuckerberg. “We certainly have the work to do to build trust.”
Zuckerberg has been better with the next two appearances, said a legal expert and former employee, showing that he will control more Poland and his answers. He and the chiefs of Apple, Amazon, and Google were summoned in 2020 during the pandemic when the House Judiciary Committee was summoned for a hearing on the power of big technology. In 2021, Zuckerberg, who joined the CEOs of Twitter and Google, spoke to a House committee about disinformation.
Last year, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley requested at a child safety hearing that Zuckerberg would apologize to parents who lost their children due to bullying and other harms accused of refueling Instagram.
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve gone through,” Zuckerberg told parents in attendance. “No one should experience your family suffering.”
Holy said it is important to keep Meta and Zuckerberg accountable.
“This was my whole goal of enforcing a moment of truth,” Holy said in an interview. “But the truth is that he will continue to sail first and do so until there is a real outcome in Congress and in court next week.”
Observe the night sky tonight to witness a rare event known as the “Planet Parade,” where the planets in our solar system align in a row. This phenomenon involves Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune appearing in a straight line for a unique celestial display. This rare occurrence will not happen again until 2040.
The best time to view this spectacular event is on the evening of Friday, February 28th, 2025, when all seven planets will be visible in the sky. Astrophysicists like David Armstrong emphasize the significance of this planetary alignment and the rarity of such an occurrence.
To best observe this phenomenon, head outdoors just after sunset to catch a glimpse of Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. For a more detailed view, consider using binoculars or a telescope to see the distinctive features of each planet. Find a dark, remote spot away from city lights for the optimal viewing experience.
Where should I look to see the planets?
Identifying the planets in the sky can be challenging, but each has its unique brightness and position. Look for Venus in the west, the brightest object after sunset, followed by Jupiter overhead. Keep an eye out for Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, as it remains low on the horizon. The planets’ loose alignment creates a visual path across the sky, making it easier to track their movements.
Why is this planetary parade happening?
The alignment of planets is a result of their orbits in the zodiac plane, creating the illusion of alignment from Earth’s perspective. While this alignment is purely visual and does not have a significant impact on Earth, it provides a fascinating celestial display for observers to enjoy.
Meet our experts
Dr. Sham Balaji: A researcher at King’s College London, specializing in cosmic particle physics and cosmology.
Matt Burley: An astronomer and reader at the University of Leicester’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.
David Armstrong: An associate professor at Warwick University focusing on planet detection and the Neptinia desert.
The physicist with Atlas collaboration We presented our first observations of VVZ production at Cern's large Hadron Collider. This is a rare combination of three giant vector bosons.
Three vector boson events recorded by Atlas are when one W-boson collapses into electrons and neutrinos, one collapses into moons and neutrinos, and two moons collapses into z boson. Muons are shown with a red line, electrons are shown with a green line, and a white line where “loss of energy” from Neutrino is destroyed. Image credits: Atlas/Cern.
As carriers of weak forces, W and Z bosons are central to standard models of particle physics.
Accurate measurements of multiboson production processes provide excellent testing of standard models and shed light on new physical phenomena.
“The production of three vector (V) bosons is a very rare process in LHC,” says Dr. Fabio Cerutti, Ph.D., Atlas Physics Coordinator.
“The measurement provides information about the interactions between multiple bosons linked to the symmetry underlying the standard model.”
“It is a powerful tool to uncover new physics phenomena, such as new particles that are too heavy to be produced directly in LHC.”
The Atlas team observed the generation of VVZ with statistical significance of 6.4 standard deviations, exceeding the five standard deviation thresholds needed to assert the observations.
This observation extends previous results from Atlas and CMS collaborations, including observations of VVV production by CMS and observations of WWW production by Atlas.
As some of the heaviest known particles, W and Z bosons can collapse in countless different ways.
In a new study, Atlas physicists focused on seven attenuation channels with the highest discovery potential.
These channels were further refined using a machine learning technique called Boosted Decision Trees, where the algorithms for each channel were trained to identify the desired signal.
By combining the attenuation channels, researchers were able to observe the production of VVZ and set limits on the contributions of new physical phenomena to the signal.
“The resulting limitations confirm the validity of the standard model and are consistent with previous results on the generation of three vector bosons,” they said.
“Analyzing the third run of LHC and the large dataset from future HLHCs will further improve the measurements of the generation of three vector bosons. We will deepen our understanding of these basic particles and our role in the universe.”
Earth-sized ovals at Jupiter's north and south poles, visible only at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths, appear and disappear at seemingly random intervals, according to a study led by astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley.
False-color ultraviolet image of the entire planet showing a hood or cap of hydrocarbon fog covering the south pole. The edge of the arctic hood is visible at the top. Image credit: Troy Tsubota and Michael Wong, University of California, Berkeley.
Jupiter's dark ultraviolet ellipses are mostly located directly beneath bright auroral bands at each pole, similar to Earth's northern and southern lights.
This spot absorbs more ultraviolet light than the surrounding area, so it appears darker in images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
In annual images of the planet taken by Hubble between 2015 and 2022, dark ultraviolet ellipses appear 75% of the time at the south pole, but only in one in eight images taken at the north pole. A dark oval will appear.
The dark ultraviolet ellipses suggest that unusual processes are occurring in Jupiter's strong magnetic field. This magnetic field propagates all the way to the poles and deep into the atmosphere, much deeper than the magnetic processes that produce auroras on Earth.
The dark ultraviolet ellipse was first detected in the 1990s by Hubble at the North and South poles, and later also at the North Pole by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which flew close to Jupiter in 2000, but received little attention.
In a new analysis of Hubble images, University of California, Berkeley undergraduate student Troy Tsubota and his colleagues found that the oval shape is a common feature of Antarctica. They counted eight Southern Ultraviolet Dark Ovals (SUDOs) between 1994 and 2022.
In all 25 Hubble Earth maps showing Jupiter's north pole, only two northern ultraviolet dark ellipses (NUDOs) were found.
Most of the Hubble images were taken as part of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL).
“In the first two months, we realized that these OPAL images were kind of a gold mine. We quickly built this analysis pipeline and asked what we could get by sending all the images. We were able to confirm that,” says Tsubota.
“That's when we realized we could actually do good science and real data analysis and have conversations with our collaborators about why these things appear.”
The authors also aimed to determine the cause of these areas of dense fog.
They theorized that the dark ellipse was likely being stirred up from above by a vortex created when the planet's magnetic field lines rub at two very far apart locations. One is the friction in the ionosphere and the Earth's sheet, the rotational motion of which has previously been detected using ground-based telescopes. Hot ionized plasma around the planet emitted by the volcanic moon Io.
The vortex rotates fastest within the ionosphere and gradually weakens as it reaches deeper layers.
Like a tornado landing on dusty ground, the deepest parts of the vortex stir up the hazy atmosphere, creating the dense patches observed by astronomers.
It is unclear whether the mixing will dredge more haze from below or create additional haze.
Based on their observations, researchers believe that the oval shape may form over about a month and disappear within a few weeks.
Astronomer Dr Shih Zhang said: “The dark elliptical haze is 50 times thicker than typical concentrations. This is because this haze is due to the dynamics of the vortex, rather than a chemical reaction caused by high-energy particles from the upper atmosphere. This suggests that it is likely to have been formed by At the University of California, Santa Cruz.
“Our observations show that the timing and location of these high-energy particles do not correlate with the appearance of the dark ellipses.”
This discovery, which the OPAL project was designed to discover, will reveal how the atmospheric dynamics of the solar system's giant planets differ from what we know on Earth. .
“Studying the connections between different atmospheric layers is extremely important for all planets, whether exoplanets, Jupiter, or Earth,” said Dr. Michael Wong, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley.
“We see evidence of processes connecting everything throughout the Jovian system, from internal dynamos to satellites, plasma torii, ionospheres, and stratospheric haze.”
“Finding these examples helps us understand the entire planet.”
of study Published in a magazine natural astronomy.
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TK Tsubota others. Jupiter's ultraviolet to dark polar ellipse shows the connection between the magnetosphere and atmosphere. Nat Astronpublished online on November 26, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02419-0
This article is adapted from the original release by the University of California, Berkeley.
HDo you often look up at the sky instead of looking down at the black mirror you might be reading this column on? Will you read this page to the end? How many tabs did you have open today? How many of you interact with other humans on the train without looking at your phone? I’m not one to judge. I, like everyone else, am obsessed with the release of dopamine. But these days, as the world becomes increasingly disillusioned and divided, it seems more urgent than ever to look outward rather than inward and pay attention in the ways that are most valuable.
I remembered seeing this floor rot a tapestry by US-based artist Quaysha Wood at Salon 94 in New York. It shows a woman slumped, exhausted, or “rotting in bed,” as if her white eyes were illuminated by the screen. Surrounding her are dozens of tabs with slogans emblematic of the culture of 2024 (like “Summer of the Kid”), but somehow already outdated, lost in the speed of an internet-driven world. It feels like it’s closed. She seems exhausted. I get tired looking at her. And her fatigue is common.
In a new radio series, desire to be distracted Matthew Said explores the state of our attention span. The debate surrounding this issue has been around for thousands of years, with medieval monks furious about the technology of “books,” but it feels especially applicable in our digital age. Research shows that the average amount of time people spend watching something on screen is just 40 seconds or less, an 80% decrease since 2004.
Distraction comes in many forms, but the problem today, Saeed tells us, is uncontrolled exploitation by big tech companies. They use sophisticated algorithms to use more data than ever before and turn our ever-longer scrolls into cash. This promotes addiction and stunts brain growth, especially in children. Slowly, we seem to be losing our positivity, losing our creativity, losing our connection, and losing our humanity.
This is not to say that modern digital technology should be abolished. Great things come from that. It’s global connectivity. Community building, especially in subcultures. to cause movement. A platform to give people a voice and spread joy, beauty, and knowledge. But we need to be aware of the more sinister aspects built into its design to keep us fascinated. Wood’s Tapestry is an unsettling vision of what this world could become, or already is.
It’s worth recognizing that Bed Rot held my attention longer than a typical screen, affirming the power of art to make viewers stop, stare, and think. Just as conversations are more meaningful in person than on a screen, it’s very hard to look away when something physical is right in front of you.
I believe that art can help counteract the negative effects of smartphone scrolling. Now more than ever, we need art that offers a world-changing perspective to make us believe in humanity again. Land artist Nancy Holt’s work, for example, reminds us of the mysteries of the natural world and the atmosphere above.
Lying in Utah’s Great Basin Desert is Holt’s Sun Tunnel. It’s four giant concrete tubes, tall enough to walk on, facing each other in an X-shape. During the day, you can see the vast arid land and sky through the tunnel. If the sky is clear, the light shines mottled through the holes in the pipes placed in the constellations of Capricorn, Columba, Draco, and Perseus, making it seem as if you are walking on the stars. Twice a year, on the summer and winter solstice, the sun aligns perfectly with the tunnel, allowing light to shine through.
Holt, who passed away in 2014, uses the earth and space as tools to highlight the vast beauty of the natural world by providing a vessel for viewing it. Her work reaffirms the fact that land, sea, sky, and human connections are all there, competing for our attention, but not for capitalist profit.
Author Iris Murdoch said in an interview: We create a small personal world and remain trapped within it. Great art brings freedom and allows us to take pleasure in seeing things that are not ourselves. ”
Art reminds us to look up from the little world we create on the black mirror in our pockets. It helps us understand our place in the universe and look out into the expanse rather than at ourselves as filtered through technology. It’s time to regain our attention. And to give it to what is worthy and important to us.
The generation of top quark pairs is observed This process of interaction between atomic nuclei was observed for the first time in lead-lead collisions at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the ATLAS detector.
We show lead-lead collisions at 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair, resulting in the production of candidate pairs of top quarks that decay into other particles. This event contains four particle jets (yellow cone), one electron (green line), and one muon (red line). The inlay shows an axial view of the event. Image credit: ATLAS/CERN.
In quark-gluon plasma, quarks (matter particles) and gluons (strong force transmitters), which are the basic constituents of protons and neutrons, are not bound within particles and exist in an unconfined state of matter, and almost It forms a complete dense fluid.
Physicists believe that quark-gluon plasma filled the universe shortly after the Big Bang, and their study provides a glimpse into conditions at earlier times in the universe's history.
However, the lifespan of quark-gluon plasma produced by heavy ion collisions is extremely short, approximately 10 years.-twenty three Seconds — means not directly observable.
Instead, physicists study the particles produced in these collisions that pass through the quark-gluon plasma and use them as probes of the plasma's properties.
In particular, the top quark is a very promising probe of the evolution of quark-gluon plasmas over time.
The top quark, the heaviest elementary particle known, decays into other particles an order of magnitude faster than the time required to form a quark-gluon plasma.
The delay between the collision and the decay products of the top quark interacting with the quark-gluon plasma may serve as a “time marker” and provide a unique opportunity to study the temporal dynamics of the plasma.
In addition, physicists could potentially extract new information about the nuclear parton distribution function, which describes how the momentum of a nucleon (proton or neutron) is distributed among its constituent quarks and gluons.
In the new study, physicists from the ATLAS collaboration studied lead ion collisions that occurred during LHC Experiment 2 at a collision energy of 5.02 teraelectronvolts (TeV) per nucleon pair.
They observed the production of a top quark in a dilepton channel, where the top quark decays into a bottom quark and a W boson, which then decays into an electron or muon and its associated neutrino.
This result has statistical significance with a standard deviation of 5.0, and is the first observation of the production of a top quark pair in a nucleus-nucleus collision.
“We measured the production rate, or cross section, of the top quark pair with a relative uncertainty of 35%,” the physicists said.
“The overall uncertainty is primarily driven by the size of the dataset, which means new heavy ion data from the ongoing Experiment 3 will improve the accuracy of the measurements.”
“The new results open the door to the study of quark-gluon plasmas,” the researchers added.
“Future studies will also consider semi-leptonic decay channels for top quark pairs in heavy ion collisions. This may provide the first glimpse of the evolution of quark-gluon plasmas over time.” ”
It has been found that Japanese eels attempt to escape from the stomachs of fish that have swallowed them whole, and sometimes succeed in doing so.
A few years ago, Yuba Hasegawa of Nagasaki University discovered that the Japanese eel (AnguillaAn eel (scientific name: Anguilliidae) that had been swallowed by a fish had somehow reappeared in the tank. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the eels had escaped through the fish's gills — 28 of the 54 that had been swallowed whole had managed to escape — but it was unclear how they had managed to do so.
Hasegawa and his team were able to capture this process by injecting a contrast agent into the eels, making them visible under X-rays.Odontobutis obscura), and 12 were able to navigate far enough back up the esophagus to bend their tails and exit the gill slits. Nine of these 12 escaped.
When the eels began to move backwards through the esophagus, in some cases their tails were not fully inside the stomach, but in other cases their entire bodies were inside the stomach and they spun around as if searching for an exit. Five of the 11 eels that were fully inside the stomach were able to place their tails at the entrance to the esophagus and return to the gills.
Two of the 11 took a wrong turn and headed for the intestines. All that didn't escape died within three and a half minutes.
The team now plans to test whether other eels and similarly shaped fish can escape in this way. “At present, the Japanese eel is the only fish species that has been confirmed to be able to escape from the digestive tract of a predator after being caught,” Hasegawa says.
However, other kinds of animals can escape being swallowed whole. For example, aquatic beetles Regimbaltia attenuata You can escape from the frog Crawling out of the anus.
Physicists from the STAR Collaboration have observed an antimatter hypernucleus, antihyperhydrogen-4, consisting of an antihypernucleus, an antiproton, and two antineutrons, in nuclear collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Artistic representation of antihyperhydrogen-4 produced in the collision of two gold nuclei. Image courtesy of the Institute of Modern Physics.
“What we know in physics about matter and antimatter is that, apart from the opposite charge, antimatter has the same properties as matter – the same mass, the same lifetime before decaying, and the same interactions,” said Junlin Wu, a graduate student at Lanzhou University and the China Institute of Modern Physics.
“But in reality, our universe is made up of antimatter rather than matter, even though equal amounts of matter and antimatter are thought to have been created during the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago.”
“Why our universe is populated with matter remains a question, and we don't yet have a complete answer.”
“The first step in studying the asymmetry between matter and antimatter is to discover new antimatter particles. This is the basic idea of this research,” added Dr Hao Qiu, a researcher at the Institute of Modern Physics.
STAR physicists had previously observed atomic nuclei made of antimatter produced in RHIC collisions.
In 2010, they detected an antihypertriton, the first example of an antimatter nucleus containing a hyperon, a particle that contains at least one strange quark rather than just the light up and down quarks that make up ordinary protons and neutrons.
Just a year later, STAR physicists broke that massive antimatter record by detecting antihelium-4, the antimatter equivalent of a helium nucleus.
Recent analysis suggests that antihyperhydrogen 4 may also be feasible.
But detecting this unstable antihypernucleus is a rare event: all four components (one antiproton, two antineutrons and one antilambda) need to be ejected from the quark-gluon soup produced in the RHIC collision in just the right place, in the same direction and at just the right time, briefly becoming bound together.
“It's just a coincidence that these four component particles appear close enough together in the RHIC collision that they can combine to form an antihypernucleus,” said Brookhaven National Laboratory physicist Lijuan Luan, one of the STAR collaboration's co-spokespeople.
To find antihyperhydrogen-4, STAR physicists studied the trajectories of particles produced when this unstable antihypernucleus decays.
One of these decay products is the previously detected antihelium-4 nucleus, and the other is a simple positively charged particle called a pion (pi+).
“Antihelium-4 had already been discovered with STAR, so we used the same methods as before to pick up those events and reconstruct them with the π+ track to find these particles,” Wu said.
“It is simply by chance that these four component particles emerge from the RHIC collision close enough together to combine to form an antihypernucleus,” said Dr. Lijuan Luan, a research scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
RHIC's collisions produce huge amounts of pions, and physicists have been sifting through billions of collision events to find the rare antihypernuclei.
The antihelium-4 produced by the collision can pair up with hundreds or even a thousand pi+ particles.
“The key was to find an intersection point where the trajectories of the two particles had a particular characteristic – a collapse vertex,” Dr. Luan said.
“That is, the collapse apex must be far enough away from the collision point that the two particles could have originated from the decay of an antihypernucleus that formed shortly after the collision of the particle originally produced in the fireball.”
STAR researchers worked hard to eliminate the background of all other potential collapse pair partners.
Ultimately, their analysis found 22 candidate events with an estimated background count of 6.4.
“That means that about six of what appear to be antihyperhydrogen-4 decays could just be random noise,” said Emily Duckworth, a doctoral student at Kent State University.
Subtracting that background count from the 22, physicists can be confident that they have detected about 16 actual antihyperhydrogen-4 nuclei.
The results were significant enough to allow scientists to make a direct comparison between matter and antimatter.
They compared the lifespan of antihyperhydrogen 4 to that of hyperhydrogen 4, which is made from normal matter variants of the same building blocks.
They also compared the lifetimes of another matter-antimatter pair, antihypertritons and hypertritons.
Neither difference was significant, but the authors were not surprised.
“This experiment tested a particularly strong form of symmetry,” the researchers said.
“Physicists generally agree that this symmetry breaking is extremely rare and is not an answer to the imbalance of matter and antimatter in the universe.”
“If we saw this particular breaking of symmetry, we would basically have to throw a lot of what we know about physics out the window,” Duckworth said.
“So in a way it was reassuring that symmetry still worked in this case.”
“We agree that this result provides further confirmation that our model is correct and marks a major step forward in the experimental study of antimatter.”
STAR Collaboration. Observation of the antimatter hypernucleus antihyperhydrogen 4. NaturePublished online August 21, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07823-0
This article is based on an original release from Brookhaven National Laboratory.
The two galaxy clusters, known as MACS J0018.5+1626, contain thousands of galaxies each and are located billions of light-years away from Earth. As the clusters hurtled towards each other, dark matter traveled faster than normal matter.
This artist's conceptual illustration shows what happened when two massive clusters of galaxies, collectively known as MACS J0018.5+1626, collided. The dark matter (blue) in the clusters moves ahead of the associated hot gas clouds, or regular matter (orange). Both dark matter and regular matter feel the pull of gravity, but only the regular matter experiences additional effects like shocks and turbulence that slow it down during the collision. Image courtesy of W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko.
Galaxy cluster mergers are a rich source of information for testing the astrophysics and cosmology of galaxy clusters.
However, the coalescence of clusters produces complex projection signals that are difficult to physically interpret from individual observation probes.
“Imagine a series of sand-carrying dump trucks colliding, and the dark matter would fly forward like sand,” says astronomer Emily Silich of the California Institute of Technology and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
This separation of dark matter and normal matter has been observed before, most famously in the Bullet Cluster.
In this collision, hot gas can be clearly seen lagging behind dark matter after the two galaxy clusters push through each other.
The situation that occurred in MACS J0018.5+1626 is similar, but the direction of the merger is rotated about 90 degrees relative to the direction of the Bullet Cluster.
In other words, one of the giant galaxy clusters in MACS J0018.5+1626 is flying almost straight towards Earth, while the other is moving away.
This orientation gave the researchers a unique perspective to map the speeds of both dark and normal matter for the first time, and unravel how they separate during galaxy cluster collisions.
“Bullet Cluster makes you feel like you're sitting in the stands watching a car race, taking beautiful snapshots of cars moving from left to right on a straight stretch of road,” said Jack Sayers, a professor at the California Institute of Technology.
“For us, it's like standing in front of an oncoming car on a straight stretch of road with a radar gun and measuring its speed.”
To measure the velocity of ordinary matter, or gas, in galaxy clusters, the astronomers used an observational technique known as the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect.
In 2013, they made the first observational detection of the kinetic SZ effect on an individual cosmic object, a galaxy cluster named MACS J0717.
The kinetic SZ effect occurs when photons from the early universe, or the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), are scattered by electrons in hot gas on their way to Earth.
Photons undergo a shift called the Doppler shift due to the movement of electrons in the gas cloud along the line of sight.
By measuring the change in brightness of the CMB due to this shift, astronomers can determine the speed of the gas clouds within the cluster.
By 2019, the study authors had made these motional SZ measurements in several galaxy clusters to determine the velocity of the gas, or ordinary matter.
They also measured the speed of galaxies within the cluster, which gave them an indirect idea of the speed of dark matter.
However, at this stage of the study, our understanding of the cluster orientation was limited.
All they knew was that one of them, MACS J0018.5+1626, was showing signs of something strange going on: hot gas, or regular matter, moving in the opposite direction to dark matter.
“We saw a totally strange phenomenon where the velocities were in opposite directions, which initially made us think there might be a problem with the data,” Prof Sayers said.
“Even our colleagues simulating galaxy clusters had no idea what was going on.”
Scientists then used data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to determine the temperature and location of the gas in the cluster, as well as the extent to which it is being bombarded.
“These cluster collisions are the most energetic events since the Big Bang,” Šilić said.
“Chandra will measure the extreme temperatures of the gas, which will tell us the age of the merger and how recently the galaxy cluster collision took place.”
The authors found that before the collision, the clusters were moving towards each other at about 3,000 kilometers per second, roughly 1 percent of the speed of light.
With a more complete picture of what's going on, they were able to work out why dark matter and normal matter appear to be moving in opposite directions.
They say it's hard to visualize, but the direction of the collision, combined with the fact that dark matter and normal matter separated from each other, explains the strange speed measurements.
It is hoped that more studies like this one will be conducted in the future, providing new clues about the mysterious properties of dark matter.
“This work is a starting point for more detailed studies into the nature of dark matter,” Šilić said.
“We now have a new type of direct probe that shows us how dark matter behaves differently from ordinary matter.”
Emily M. Silich others. 2024. ICM-SHOX. I. Methodology overview and discovery of gas-dark matter velocity separation in the MACS J0018.5+1626 merger. ApJ 968, 74; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad3fb5
This article is a version of a press release provided by Caltech.
Robots that can peel vegetables as easily as humans can, demonstrating a level of dexterity that could be useful for moving delicate objects on production lines.
Prototype robots are often tasked with peeling vegetables to test their ability to carefully handle tricky objects, but these tasks are typically simplified, such as immobilizing the vegetable or testing only a single fruit or vegetable, like peeling a banana.
now, Pulkit Agrawal Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a robotic system that can rotate different types of fruits and vegetables using the fingers of one hand and peel them with the other arm.
“This extra step of rotating is something that's very easy for humans to do and they don't even think about it,” Agrawal says, “but it makes it difficult for a robot.”
First, the robot was trained in a simulated environment, where the algorithm rewarded it for correct turns and punished it for turning in the wrong direction or not turning at all.
The robot was then tested in real-world conditions peeling fruits and vegetables, including pumpkins, radishes, and papayas, using feedback from touch sensors to rotate the vegetables with one hand while a human-operated robotic arm did the peeling.
The robot can grab and spin vegetables with one hand and peel them with the other.
Tao Chen, Eric Cousineau, Naveen Kuppuswamy, Pulkit Agrawal
Agrawal said the algorithm struggles with small, awkwardly shaped vegetables like ginger, but the team hopes to expand its capabilities.
Grasping and orienting an object is a difficult task for any robot, but the speed and firm grip of this robot are impressive, he said. Jonathan Aitken Researchers at the University of Sheffield in the UK say the technology could be useful in factories where objects need to be moved from machine to machine in the correct orientation.
But Aitken said it was unlikely to be used industrially to peel vegetables because other methods already exist, such as automated potato peelers.
Occasionally, you may have the opportunity to witness the Northern Lights from your home in the UK or US. Tonight (Wednesday, July 24) presents a moderate chance of seeing these mesmerizing lights.
Typically, the Northern Lights are only visible in countries like Canada, Russia, and Sweden, but they have been spotted from as far as Penzance in Cornwall earlier this year.
While it’s rare for the lights to reach Cornwall, seeing the Northern Lights from the UK is not uncommon, although it requires a severe geomagnetic storm, which is a rare occurrence.
When can I see the Aurora tonight?
The Space Weather Forecast suggests that a solar storm may hit the Earth this week, potentially making the Northern Lights visible in parts of the UK on Wednesday, July 24.
Unfortunately, the Northern Lights can only be seen in certain parts of the UK, such as the north of England and Northern Ireland.
In the United States, it may be visible across several northern and upper Midwestern states from New York to Idaho.
However, due to the season, the window for viewing the Northern Lights is limited.
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How to increase your chances of seeing the Aurora
To enhance your chances of witnessing the Northern Lights, it is advisable to move away from urban areas with clear skies and minimal light pollution.
Locate a north-facing shoreline for the best viewing experience with fewer obstructions and less light pollution.
What Causes the Northern Lights?
The Aurora Borealis occurs when high-energy particles from the Sun collide with lower-energy particles in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Geomagnetic storms can push the Aurora further south, making them visible in regions where they are not usually seen.
These storms are more likely to occur during the waning stages of a solar cycle, when coronal holes generate high-speed solar wind that disrupts Earth’s magnetic field.
Why do the auroras have different colors?
The color of the Northern Lights can vary based on the atoms in Earth’s atmosphere reacting with the Sun’s energy.
Green auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen atoms, while blue, yellow, or red auroras indicate lower-altitude oxygen or nitrogen atoms colliding with solar particles.
What does “Aurora” mean?
The term “Aurora Borealis” roughly translates to “North Wind Dawn” and is a nickname for the Northern Lights. Boreas is the god of the north wind in ancient Greek mythology.
The Southern Lights are also known as “Aurora Australis”, translating to “southern wind dawn”. These lights can be influenced by geomagnetic storms and have been seen in locations like New Zealand and Australia.
A hyperon is a particle that contains three quarks, like a proton or a neutron, and one or more strange quarks. Physicists from the LHCb collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN say they have observed a hyperon decay Σ+→pμ+μ- in proton-proton collisions.
A view of the LHCb detector. Image courtesy of CERN.
“Rare decays of known particles are a promising tool for exploring physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics,” said the LHCb physicist.
“In the Standard Model, the Σ+ → pμ+μ- process is only possible through a loop diagram, meaning that the decay does not occur directly, but intermediate states have to be exchanged within the loop.”
“In quantum field theory, the probability of such a process occurring is the sum of the probabilities of all particles, both known and unknown, that can possibly be exchanged in this loop.”
“This is what makes such processes sensitive to new phenomena.”
“If a discrepancy is observed between experimental measurements and theoretical calculations, it may be caused by the contribution of some unknown particle.”
“These particles can either be exchanged within the loop or directly mediate this decay, interacting with the quarks and decaying into pairs of muons.”
“In the latter case, the new particle would leave a signature on the properties of the two muons.”
The study of the Σ+ → pμ+μ- decay has been particularly exciting thanks to hints of structure observed in the properties of muon pairs by the HyperCP collaboration in 2005.
With only three occurrences the structure was far from conclusive, and it was hoped that new research would shed light on the situation.
Finally, the LHCb data did not show any significant peak structure in the two-muon mass region highlighted by HyperCP, thus refuting the hint.
However, the new study observes the decay with a high degree of significance, followed by precise measurements of the decay probability and other parameters, which will allow further investigation of the discrepancy with the Standard Model predictions.
“In data collected in Run 2 of pp collisions at the LHCb experiment, the Σ+ → pμ+μ− decay is observed with very high significance, with a yield of NΣ+→pμ+μ− = 279 ± 19,” the authors write in their paper. paper.
“We do not see any structure in the two-muon invariant mass distribution that is consistent with the Standard Model predictions.”
“The collected signal yield allows for measurements of integral and differential branching rates, as well as other measurements such as charge-parity symmetry breaking and front-to-back asymmetry.”
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LHCb Collaboration. 2024. Observation of rare Σ+→pμ+μ− decays at LHCb. CERN-LHCb-CONF-2024-002
Astronomers using the International Gemini Observatory’s Gemini North Telescope have imaged NGC 4449, a prime example of starburst activity caused by an ongoing merger with a nearby dwarf galaxy.
NGC 4449 is located in the constellation Canes Venatici and is about 12.5 million light-years away from Earth.
Also known as Caldwell 21, LEDA 40973, and UGC 7592, the galaxy has a diameter of about 20,000 light-years.
NGC 4449 was discovered on April 27, 1788, by German-born British astronomer William Herschel.
It is part of the M94 galaxy group, located near the Local Group, which contains our own Milky Way galaxy.
“The galaxy’s rolling red clouds and glowing blue veil light up the sky with the color of newly forming stars,” the astronomers said.
“The galaxy is classified as an Irregular Magellanic Galaxy, reflecting its loose spiral structure and similarity to the Large Magellanic Cloud, the prototype of the Magellanic Cloud.”
Stars have been forming actively within NGC 4449 for billions of years, but new stars are currently being produced at a much higher rate than in the past.
This unusually explosive and intense star formation activity qualifies this galaxy to be called a starburst galaxy.
“While starbursts typically occur in the centers of galaxies, star formation in NGC 4449 is more widespread, as evidenced by the fact that the youngest stars are found both in the galaxy’s central core and in the outflow that surrounds the galaxy,” the researchers said.
“This global starburst activity resembles the earliest star-forming galaxies in the universe, which grew by merging and agglomerating with smaller stellar systems.”
“And like its galactic progenitors, NGC 4449’s rapid star formation is likely driven by interactions with nearby galaxies.”
A member of the M94 galaxy group, NGC 4449 sits very close to several smaller galaxies around it.
Astronomers have found evidence of interactions between NGC 4449 and at least two other satellite galaxies.
One is a very faint dwarf galaxy that is actively absorbing, as evidenced by the diffuse streaming of stars on one side of NGC 4449.
“This stealthy merger is nearly undetectable by visual inspection due to its diffuse nature and low stellar mass,” the scientists said.
“But this galaxy harbors a huge amount of dark matter, and we can detect its presence through its large gravitational influence on NGC 4449.”
“Another object that offers a clue to past mergers is a massive globular cluster embedded within the outer halo of NGC 4449.”
Astronomers believe the cluster is the surviving core of a former gas-rich satellite galaxy that is now being absorbed into NGC 4449.
“As NGC 4449 interacts with and absorbs other, smaller galaxies, the gas is compressed and shocked by tidal interactions between the galaxies,” the astronomers said.
“Red glowing regions scattered throughout the image indicate this process, showing an abundance of ionized hydrogen, a clear sign of ongoing star formation.”
“Dark filaments of cosmic dust that thread their way throughout the Galaxy are causing countless hot, young, blue star clusters to emerge from the galactic oven.”
“At the current rate, NGC 4449’s supply of gas to support star formation will last only another billion years or so.”
Physicists are Potassium Decay (KDK) Collaboration. They directly observed for the first time a very rare but important decay pathway from potassium-40 to argon-40. Their results have the potential to improve current understanding of physical processes and increase the accuracy of geological dating.
Potassium-40 is a ubiquitous natural isotope whose radioactivity has been used to estimate geological ages over billions of years, to theories of nuclear structure, and to the search for subatomic rare events such as dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay. influence.
The decay of this long-lived isotope must be precisely known for its use as a global clock and to explain its presence in low-background experiments.
Although potassium-40 has several known decay modes, the electron-capture decay predicted directly into the ground state of argon-40 has never been observed before.
“Some of the nuclei of certain elements radioactively decay into the nuclei of other elements. These decays can be helpful or annoying, depending on the situation,” the KDK physicists said. I am.
“This is especially true for potassium-40, an isotope that normally decays to calcium-40, but about 10% of the time it decays to argon-40.”
“This decay pathway involves a process called electron capture, which provides information about the nuclear structure.”
“Potassium-40 has a very long half-life, so it can even determine the age of geological objects on billion-year time scales.”
“Due to its long half-life, it is difficult to find another way for potassium-40 to break down.”
In a new study, researchers measured a rare decay branch of potassium-40 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Holyfield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility.
“Quantifying the decay rate of potassium-40 and its decay branches is difficult because it requires measuring the parent nucleus and a sufficient number of rare progeny nuclei,” the researchers said.
“We studied a subset of potassium-40 that decays to argon-40 by electron capture, which accounts for about 10% of all potassium-40 decays.”
“Although most potassium-40 electron-capture decays emit characteristic gamma rays that form the background of most experiments, a small subset of these decays occur without gamma ray emission.”
“This happens when potassium-40 captures an electron that goes directly to the ground state of argon-40.”
“We have directly measured this decay for the first time. This result indicates that other decay rates may also need to be reevaluated.”
“The rare decay branch we identified and measured provides unique experimental evidence for so-called forbidden beta decay, with implications for predictions of nuclear structure and for potassium-based geological and solar system age estimates. It removes years of uncertainty.”
“This discovery also improves our assessment of the background that exists in experiments that explore new physics beyond the Standard Model.”
The results are published in two papers (paper #1 and paper #2) in the diary physical review letter and diary Physical Review C.
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M. Stukel other. (KDK collaboration). 2024. 40,000 rare collapses with implications for fundamental physics and geochronology. Physics.pastor rhett 131 (5): 052503; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.052503
L. Harias other. (KDK collaboration). 2024. Evidence of ground state electron capture at 40K. Physics. Rev.C 108 (1): 014327; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.108.014327
The Lyrids, the first major meteor shower of the year, will be gracing us with fireballs tonight if luck is on our side.
Although this year’s conditions are not ideal due to the peak of the meteor shower coinciding with a full moon, the Lyrid meteor shower still has the potential to produce fireballs, similar to the more famous Perseid meteor shower (mid-July to August).
One of the oldest known meteor showers, with observations dating back over 2,700 years, the Lyrids were first reported by Chinese astronomers who observed the constellation Lyra. The sky experienced significant meteoric activity in 687 BC, 1803, and 1833.
To increase your chances of spotting the Lyrid meteor shower, understand what causes it, and know where to look, this guide provides valuable insights.
If unfavorable weather affects your viewing experience this year, consider checking out our astrophotography guide to capture stunning moon photos.
When will the Lyrid meteor shower be visible in 2024?
The peak time to witness the Lyrid meteor shower in 2024 is Monday night (April 22-23) in the UK and US regions. However, the nearly full moon on the night of April 23-24 will reduce visibility. Ideal viewing conditions are in the hours before dawn.
The Lyrid meteor shower will be visible from April 14, 2024, extending until April 30, following a yearly recurrence pattern.
Where to look to find Lyrid
The Lyra radiant, where meteors seem to originate, is situated in the Lyra constellation.
During the shower’s peak, the Lyra radiant ascends higher as the night progresses, enhancing the chance of spotting shooting stars and ensuring they don’t disappear beneath the horizon. Look for meteors about two-thirds up in the sky at a 60-degree altitude and a short distance from the radiant. Enhanced visibility can be achieved by including more sky in your field of view.
Lyra is a compact constellation nestled between the Summer Triangle and Hercules constellations, featuring the distinctive star Vega as part of its makeup.
Efficient star hopping techniques can aid in locating Lyra.
First, identify the summer triangle asterism that includes Vega from the Lyra constellation, Altair from Aquila, and Deneb from Cygnus. This triangle becomes prominent in the April evening sky.
Spot Vega: As the brightest star in Lyra, Vega acts as a marker for locating the constellation being sought. Its piercing brightness makes Vega easily identifiable.
Follow the Lyra star pattern: Once Vega is found, identify the parallelogram shape forming the body of Lyra with Vega as one of its corners. Imagination can help visualize the rest of the constellation resembling a small harp or lyre.
If all else fails, using astronomy apps on your phone with a red light filter can be beneficial in identifying celestial objects.
How visible will Lyra be?
The almost full moon during the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower on April 22-23 poses a visibility challenge. Moon glare diminishes the visibility of meteors, stars, planets, and constellations. Dark adaptation of eyes is hindered by excessive moonlight, necessitating around 10-20 minutes for optimal vision adjustment.
Despite the lunar interference, spotting brighter meteors, including fireballs, remains a possibility during this year’s Lyrid meteor shower.
How many meteors can we actually see?
Under optimal conditions with minimal light pollution and close to 18 meteors per hour, meteor visibility varies annually, with an average of 10 to 20 sightings. However, this year’s bright moon will significantly reduce the number of visible meteors to around three to four per hour.
Dr. Darren Baskill, an astrophysicist from the University of Sussex, explains that the Perseid shower in mid-August, without moonlight interference, offers a meteor every five minutes in urban areas and up to one meteor per minute in dark environments.
What causes the Lyrid meteor shower?
Meteor showers occur as Earth crosses paths with debris left behind by comets and asteroids. As this debris orbits the sun, Earth’s orbit intersects, resulting in the combustion of tiny particles in the atmosphere, creating meteoric streaks.
Most meteor-producing particles are as small as grains of sand, but larger fragments can produce fireballs. The “peak” of a meteor shower denotes the densest part of the stream, resulting in higher meteor visibility.
The Lyrid meteor shower is notable for its fast and bright meteors that often leave lasting trails in the sky, aiding visibility against moon interference.
The Lyra comet and mother object of the Lyrids, C/1861 G1 Thatcher, is a long-period comet with a 415.5-year orbit around the sun. With its last perihelion in 1861, it will be a long wait until its return (around 2276).
Lyrid meteor shower: Viewing tips
To improve your chances of viewing the Lyrid meteor shower:
Reduce light pollution: Choose locations away from bright lights and ensure minimal light obstructs your view.
Allow night vision adjustment: Let your eyes adapt to darkness, even if moonlight interferes, for better perception of the surroundings.
Obstruct the moon: Opt for locations where foliage or buildings obscure the moon for clearer views.
Watch for Meteor Trains: Meteor trains can linger after a meteor, enhancing visibility.
Use a red light filter: Employ red light filters for devices to maintain night vision.
Be vigilant for fireballs: Fireballs are rare but possible during the Lyrid meteor shower and are worth watching for.
About our experts
Dr. Darren Baskill is an outreach officer and lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sussex. With prior experience at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, he organized the annual Astronomical Photographer of the Year competition.
Inmates at New York State’s Woodbourne Correctional Facility will finally have the opportunity to view Monday’s solar eclipse, as announced by lawyers representing the inmates who filed a lawsuit on Thursday.
Six inmates at a medium-security men’s prison in Woodbourne, upstate New York, took legal action against the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision for not allowing them to witness the eclipse.
The prisoners argued that being denied the chance to see the total solar eclipse was a violation of their religious rights, as they considered it a religious event.
Lawyers involved in the case, Chris McArdle, Sharon Steinerman, and Madeline Byrd from Alston & Byrd, confirmed that the Department of Corrections had agreed to allow the inmates to view the eclipse.
2001, Woodbourne Correctional Facility, Sullivan County, New York. Ruth Fremson/New York Times, via Redux
“In response to our lawsuit alleging religious discrimination, the state of New York has entered into a binding settlement agreement allowing six of our clients to view the solar eclipse in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs. We are pleased to do so,” they stated in a written release.
After this agreement, the lawsuit filed last week was dismissed. The lawsuit also requested solar eclipse glasses.
Daniel Martucello III, the acting secretary of the department, issued a memorandum on March 11 instructing all facilities to follow a holiday schedule on the day of the eclipse. As per the complaint, the inmates were confined to their cells.
The Department of Corrections mentioned that they had initiated an inquiry into religious requests to view the eclipse, including those from six Woodbourne inmates, even before the lawsuit was filed.
The department stated that they “continued to evaluate and address the matter while the lawsuit was ongoing” and ultimately agreed to allow these six individuals to witness the eclipse.
The lawsuit referenced instances of darkness in religious scriptures such as during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Christianity and the eclipse of the sun during significant events in Islam.
On Monday, there will be a visible total solar eclipse in the United States for the first time since August 21, 2017. The next solar eclipse visible in the United States will occur in 2044.
During a total solar eclipse, the sky will darken in the middle of the day.
Despite Woodbourne not being in the path of the total solar eclipse, around 3:25 p.m., the sun will be partially covered by the moon. NASA’s “Solar Eclipse Explorer” website
According to physicists, CMS cooperation This is the first time this process has been observed in proton-proton collisions at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This is also the most accurate measurement of tau's anomalous magnetic moment and provides a new way to constrain the existence of new physics.
We reproduced candidate events of the γγ →ττ process in proton-proton collisions measured by the CMS detector. Tau can decay into muons (red), charged pions (yellow), and neutrinos (not visible). Energy is stored in green in an electromagnetic calorimeter and cyan in a hadronic calorimeter. Image credit: CMS Collaboration.
of TauIt is a special particle of the lepton family, also called tauon.
In general, leptons, together with quarks, constitute the matter content of the Standard Model.
Tau was first discovered in the 1970s, and its associated neutrino (tau neutrino) was discovered by Fermilab's DONUT collaboration in 2000 to complete the tangible matter part.
However, tau has a very short lifetime and can remain stable for only 290*10 hours, making it quite difficult to study it accurately.-15 seconds.
Two other charged leptons, electrons and muons, are fairly well studied.
Much is also known about their magnetic moments and their associated anomalous magnetic moments.
The former can be understood as the strength and direction of a virtual bar magnet within the particle.
However, this measurable quantity requires correction at the quantum level resulting from the virtual particles pulling on the magnetic moment and deviates from the predicted value.
The quantum correction, called the anomalous magnetic moment, is about 0.1%.
If the theoretical and experimental results do not agree, this anomalous magnetic momentIopens the door to physics beyond the Standard Model.
The anomalous magnetic moment of the electron is one of the most accurately known quantities in particle physics and is in perfect agreement with models.
Its muon counterpart, on the other hand, is one of the most studied, and research is ongoing.
So far, theory and experiment are largely in agreement, but recent results raise tensions that require further investigation.
But for Tau, the race is still on. Its anomalous magnetic moment is particularly difficult to measure.τThis is because tau has a short lifespan.
The first attempt wasτ After the discovery of tau, there was an uncertainty 30 times higher than the size of the quantum correction.
Experimental efforts at CERN improved the constraints and reduced the uncertainty to 20 times the size of the quantum correction.
In collisions, physicists look for special processes. That is, two photons interact to produce two tau leptons (also called a ditau pair), which then decay into muons, electrons, or charged pions, and neutrinos.
So far, both ATLAS and CMS collaborations have observed this in ultraperipheral lead-to-lead collisions.
Now, CMS physicists report: first observation The same process occurs during proton-proton collisions.
These collisions provide greater sensitivity to physics over the standard model, as new physical effects increase with collision energy.
Taking advantage of the superior tracking capabilities of the CMS detector, the collaboration will isolate this particular process from other processes by selecting events that produce a tau with no other tracking within a distance of just 1 mm. I was able to separate it.
“This remarkable achievement in detecting proton-proton collisions in the super-periphery sets the stage for many breakthrough measurements of this kind from CMS experiments,” said Dr. Michael Pitt, a member of the CMS team. said.
This new method provided a new way to constrain tau's anomalous magnetic moments, and the CMS Collaboration quickly put it to the test.
Future driving data will likely improve the significance, but their new measurements impose the tightest constraints to date, with greater precision than ever before.
This reduces the prediction uncertainty to just three times the size of the quantum correction.
“We're really excited to finally be able to narrow down some of the fundamental properties of the elusive tau lepton,” said CMS team member Dr. Isaac Neutelings.
“This analysis introduces a new approach to investigating tau g-2 and revitalizes a measurement that has been stagnant for more than 20 years,” said CMS team member Dr. Xuelong Qin.
Currently in orbit within the inner regions of the solar system is comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, also known as Pons-Brooks, which is making its first appearance in over 70 years and is expected to be visible without the aid of telescopes soon. This massive ice chunk, roughly 30 kilometers (19 miles) in diameter, is comparable in size to Mount Everest and is considered one of the brightest known periodic comets by astrophysicists. Pons-Brooks, classified as a Halley-type comet, has an orbit around the Sun of 71.3 years and was last observed in the sky in 1954. Discovered in 1812 by Jean-Louis Pons and later confirmed in 1883 by William Robert Brooks, this is the first recorded sighting of the comet dating back to 1385.
When is Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks Visible?
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is currently visible and will remain so until April 21, 2024, with optimal viewing conditions expected towards the end of March. With binoculars or a small telescope, the comet is already observable in the sky, particularly when the Moon is located in the west below the Andromeda Galaxy moving through Pisces. By the end of the month, the comet will pass near the brighter stars in Aries, moving in the direction of Jupiter. As its brightness increases towards the end of the month, it may become visible to the naked eye under clear, dark skies. On March 31st, Pons-Brooks will be just 0.5 degrees away from a bright star named Hamal, which is equivalent to the diameter of the full moon, according to Strom. Those having trouble locating these constellations can benefit from downloading a stargazing app. For residents of the United States, the comet may also be visible in the sky during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Following its closest approach to the Sun on April 21, Pons-Brooks will fade and become visible only to observers in the southern hemisphere.
Why the Name “Devil’s” Comet?
The recent sighting of Pons-Brooks is not its first appearance in recent times. Referred to as the “Devil’s Comet,” due to a peculiar outburst in July 2023 that led to a temporary brightening resembling devil horns, Pons-Brooks is classified as a cryovolcanic comet that sporadically erupts, expelling dust, gas, and ice into space. These eruptions are triggered by the comet warming up as it nears the Sun, resulting in increased pressure causing the release of icy material from beneath the surface of the comet. The gas forms a bright coma, a halo of evaporated material surrounding the solid core of the comet. Comets appear brightest when closest to the Sun due to sunlight reflecting off the evaporated material, with the tails formed by interaction with charged particles from the solar wind. Pons-Brooks experienced similar but less intense outbursts on various dates in recent months, contributing to its brightness when close to the Sun.
What Does “12P” Mean?
The designation “12P” in the comet’s name indicates that it is the 12th comet discovered within a set period. Baskill explains that long-period comets, originating from the edge of the solar system, may have orbits lasting thousands or even tens of thousands of years, while short-period comets like Pons-Brooks return to the inner solar system in less than 200 years. Notable short-period comets include Comet Halley, with a period close to that of Pons-Brooks, expected to return in 2061. Current estimations suggest there are around 3,910 known comets in total, but astronomers believe there could be up to 1 trillion comets within our solar system.
Upcoming Comets
Expect to observe Comet 13P/Olbers in June and July, with observers in the Northern Hemisphere likely to spot it using binoculars. This comet, also known as a Halley’s Comet, orbits the Sun every 69 years. In late 2024, Comet C/2023 A3 is predicted to enter the inner solar system, potentially showcasing exceptional brightness in September and October, comparable to the brightest stars and potentially earning the title of “Great Comet.”
About Our Experts:
Dr. Paul Strom serves as an Assistant Professor within the Astronomy and Astrophysics Group at the University of Warwick, focusing on the PLATO space mission and various astrophysical topics, particularly far-ultraviolet observations to understand the environments where young planets form. His research paper titled “Exo-solar Comets from a Solar System Perspective” was published in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
Dr. Darren Baskill is an outreach officer and lecturer at the University of Sussex’s School of Physics and Astronomy. Previously involved with the Royal Observatory Greenwich, he organized the annual Astronomical Photographer of the Year competition.
Comet 12P/Ponsbrooks observed near Tromsø, Norway on March 5th
Bernt Olsen
One of the brightest known comets is headed toward Earth and could be visible to the naked eye within the next few weeks. Follow our guide and find Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks for yourself.
When will the comet be visible?
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks orbits the sun for 71 years, during which it travels to the outer reaches of the solar system and back again. At this time, on April 21st, it will reach its perihelion, which means it will be closest to the sun. The comet will continue to approach Earth, reaching its closest approach on June 2nd at a distance of 232 million kilometers.
When is the best time to look for comets?
Although it will be close to Earth in June, the best time to see the comet in the Northern Hemisphere will be over the next few weeks, as the evenings will become brighter and less visible after the end of April. By June, it will be visible only in the Southern Hemisphere.
Where in the sky will comets appear?
12P/Pons Brooks has moved from the constellation Andromeda through the night sky to the constellation Pisces, where it is now located directly below the bright star Miraak. It will move into Aries at the end of March. It is expected to reach magnitude 5 and should be visible with the naked eye or with binoculars from areas with dark skies.
How can I see comets?
It’s best to plan ahead. Use astronomical observation software Stellarium etc. Pinpoint exactly where the comet will be visible on the days and times you want to see it. In the Northern Hemisphere, the comet will be near the horizon just after sunset and will set earlier as March progresses. At the end of the month, the sun sets a few hours after sunset, so we recommend viewing it as soon as it gets dark.
What do comets look like?
The core of 12P/Ponsbrooks is about 30 kilometers in diameter and, like other comets, appears to have a bright center and a tail behind it. Sightings of this particular comet date back to at least 1385, when Chinese and European astronomers recorded sightings of this comet.
Can I see Comet 12P/Ponsbrooks during a solar eclipse?
If you’re lucky enough to be in the path of the total solar eclipse on April 8, you might be able to spot the comet between the Sun and Jupiter. Jupiter appears to the upper left of the Sun during that period. The moon blocks all sunlight for four minutes.
The upcoming full moon in February 2024, known as the snow moon, will be the second one of the year. Despite being a micromoon this month, it signifies the end of winter and the coming of spring.
Wondering when is the best time to witness this full snow moon in the UK? How close is the micromoon? And the current constellation of the moon? Here is everything you need to know about the full moon in February 2024.
If you want to enjoy a clear night sky, explore our beginner’s guide to astronomy. To get familiar with some unique constellations, this guide is the perfect starting point.
Interested in capturing beautiful moon photos? Check out our practical moon photography guide that is filled with expert advice from astrophotographers and even BBC Night Sky presenter Pete Lawrence. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced user, we have tutorials to suit your needs.
When will we see the snow moon in 2024?
If the skies are clear, the snow moon will be visible in the early morning and evening on February 24, 2024, across the UK, US, and other parts of the world.
The peak illumination of the full moon in February will happen at 12:30 PM GMT. For viewers in the UK, this means that the moon will be fully illuminated during the day when it is below the horizon. However, it will still appear “full” when it rises at night and for a few days after.
In London, the Snow Moon will rise in the east-northeast on February 24 at 5:27pm GMT and set in the west-northwest at 7:32 a.m. on February 25th.
In New York, the Snow Moon will rise in the east-northeast on February 24 at 5:55 pm ET and set in the western sky at 7:18 am on February 25th.
In Seattle, the Snow Moon will rise in the east-northeast on February 24 at 6:07 pm PST and set in the west at 7:40 a.m. on February 25th.
What’s unique about the 2024 Snow Moon?
This year’s Snow Moon is special for two reasons. First, it falls on the day before the moon reaches its apogee, making it the smallest full moon of the year. Secondly, it coincides with the Lunar New Year celebrations, including the Lantern Festival.
On February 24th, National Tortilla Day is also celebrated in the US, giving you another reason to toast the full moon with chips and dip.
When is the best time to view the 2024 Snow Moon?
The best time to observe the snow moon is in the evening of February 24th, just after sunrise, or before moonset on the morning of February 24th. The moon will be closest to full illumination and low on the horizon in both cases.
In London, the moon will set at 7:21 a.m. GMT on the morning of February 24th, offering a picturesque sight low on the horizon. And if you wait until evening, the moon will rise at 5:27pm GMT on February 24th, just after sunset.
The Earth’s counterclockwise rotation means that the moon will appear to move across the sky from left to right in the Northern Hemisphere and from right to left in the Southern Hemisphere at a rate of 15 degrees per hour.
Why is February’s full moon called the snow moon?
February is one of the coldest months of the year in the Northern Hemisphere due to the cooling effects of winter and the sun’s lower angle. The snow moon gets its name from the significant snowfall experienced in the US, Canada, and Europe during this time.
What constellation is the moon in?
On February 22nd, the Moon will be in Cancer, and by the full moon, it will have moved into Leo, situated between Regulus and Keltan. Three days later, the moon will shift to Virgo, followed by Libra from March 1st.
Is the snow moon a supermoon?
No, the February 2024 snow moon is not a supermoon, as it will be a micromoon. Supermoons occur when the moon is closest to Earth, known as perigee, making it appear larger and brighter in the sky.
How far away is the moon?
During apogee on February 25, the moon will be 406,312 km (252,470 miles) away from Earth, making it the smallest full moon of 2024. The farthest point of the moon from Earth will be on October 2, 2024, at 406,516 km (252,597 miles) during a new moon.
What causes a full moon?
A full moon occurs when the side facing Earth is fully illuminated by the sun, as the Earth is positioned between the Sun and the Moon. This alignment, known as “syzygy,” only lasts for a moment but signifies a full moon in the lunar cycle.
The moon’s cycle lasts about 29.53 days, with the full moon marking the midpoint. The sun and moon balance each other during a full moon, with the moon appearing full all night but technically only being “full” for a brief moment.
In the strange world of the paranormal, one unique phenomenon that comes up again and again is the near-death experience (NDE). The white light at the end of the tunnel, the memories of someone’s life flashing before your eyes, and even the vision of heaven.
All these clichés are thoroughly played out in movies and TV shows for a reason. Research shows that people do experience these intense visions.
A near-death experience can be an amazing boost to a better life, making people happier, more fulfilled, and less afraid of death. It is not just natural to feel quite distraught when you are close to death and experience such a mirage. In fact, the opposite may also be true.
So what exactly are the effects of a near-death experience? What’s happening in the brain during these events? And… well, is it possible to create one without nearly dying?
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What is a near-death experience actually like?
Although not all near-death experiences result in some form of vision or ultimately a unique experience, they are very common and often apply to positive or negative experiences.
“When people started studying near-death experiences, the focus was almost entirely on the more positive, more typical experiences. But as time went on, people became more aware of the negative as well. Now,” Professor Chris French said a psychologist who believes in the paranormal. BBC Science Focus in instant genius Podcast.
“In terms of what’s going on, it’s a very rich hallucinatory experience, but it feels incredibly real. It feels as real as anything you’ve ever experienced.”
For those who have had positive experiences, it’s not as much of a problem, but when people have negative experiences, they often have problems such as: increased fear of death, and may even experience lifelong trauma. What’s even more frightening is that people think: Approximately 1 in 5 near-death experiences You fall into this negative camp.
Chris categorizes these negative experiences into three categories.
The first is the most important consideration. positive experience. An awe-inspiring moment, perhaps seeing their memories come flooding back to them, but they may not see it in a positive way.
The second category he describes as Hieronymus Bosch’s hellscape. In other words, this is a complete nightmarish view of life and death, where humans are tortured and a painful afterlife awaits them.
Finally, something even more sinister, there is nothing. Many reports paint a picture of an empty void, where you spend the rest of eternity drifting aimlessly.
So far, it doesn’t sound very good, but what about positive experiences? These still sound pretty scary, but the vast majority of people have experienced intense experiences that help them realize the joy in life. We are reporting positive experiences in line with our experience.
Common examples include feeling yourself floating out of your body, seeing your life flashing before your eyes, and of course seeing the light forming at the end of the tunnel you have to walk through. Here are the people who saw it.
When people have a more positive experience, they tend to report sensations at the same time. You feel lighter, freer and completely calm. For some people, these visions (which can be quite frightening) can be made more comfortable by the joy they feel.
These experiences are associated with a higher appreciation for life and positive feelings towards the whole experience, despite coming close to death.
The science behind the experience
So what exactly causes near-death experiences? Are they visions from God? Can we actually get a glimpse of the afterlife? Of course, science cannot say for sure. But researchers like French have an interesting theory.
“Most neuropsychologists think this is a vision of a dying brain. Strange things usually happen in the brain in situations like this, and this is how we experience it,” French said. Told.
“It’s incredibly real, and there’s no definitive answer to explain it, but this is definitely the most logical answer we have.”
In the brain, this occurs primarily in the right temporoparietal cortex, the part of the brain that takes in information from the visual, auditory, and somatosensory (sensory) systems.
“It’s important to note that someone doesn’t actually have to be close to death to experience this, they just need to believe it. Although there are still many questions remaining regarding near-death experiences. , a neuropsychological approach is the best we have.”
read more:
A more fulfilling life after facing death
You’re close to death, you’ve had some kind of vision of the afterlife, and now you’re back to normal life. How do people move forward when they find themselves in a situation like this?
For most people, the experience is transformative. An overwhelming percentage of people who have had a near-death experience report a desire to change their lives after approaching death.
Not surprisingly, many people who have had a near-death experience believe that they have seen the afterlife or experienced another dimension, and have since focused on reincarnation, the afterlife, and projections of the mind. It becomes much more spiritual.
In a study of cardiac arrest survivors People who have had a near-death experience are statistically less afraid of death, have more belief in life after death, are more interested in the meaning of life, are more accepting of others, and are more likely to be loving and empathetic. has become higher.
For some people, this takes effect immediately after they regain consciousness. For some people, this can take years to build up.
How to induce a near-death experience without nearly dying
This all sounds great, but dying is a very difficult way to bring more joy into your life. Is there an easier way to experience a near-death experience? Technically yes. There are reports of people getting into them without the dying part.
In some cases, people have been able to meditate on near-death experience visions and experiences.in Study of advanced Buddhist meditatorsthey were able to induce that experience without causing fear of death.
However, these were monks with over 20 years of experience in the world of meditation, who frequently meditated for hours on end. Buddhist monks have also had near-death experiences and even claim to be able to understand the emotions that accompany a near-death experience.
Unfortunately, outside of meditation, that experience is difficult to force. In most cases, the fear of dying is so strong that the experience is triggered. If you don’t meditate throughout your life, you’ll either really die or think you’re going to die…Maybe meditation is the best way to go after all.
A research team led by physicists at Argonne National Laboratory isolated the energetic motion of electrons while “freezing” the motion of the much larger atoms they orbit in a sample of liquid water.
Shuai other. Synchronized attosecond X-ray pulse pairs (pictured here in pink and green) from an X-ray free electron laser were used to study the energetic response of electrons (gold) in liquid water on the attosecond time scale. On the other hand, hydrogen (white) and oxygen (red) atoms are “frozen” over time. Image credit: Nathan Johnson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
“The radiation-induced chemical reactions we want to study are the result of targeted electronic reactions that occur on the attosecond time scale,” said lead author of the study, Professor Linda Young, a researcher at Argonne National Laboratory. said.
Professor Young and colleagues combined experiment and theory to reveal the effects of ionizing radiation from an X-ray source when it hits material in real time.
Addressing the timescales over which actions occur will provide a deeper understanding of the complex radiation-induced chemistry.
In fact, researchers originally came together to develop the tools needed to understand the effects of long-term exposure to ionizing radiation on chemicals found in nuclear waste.
“Attosecond time-resolved experiments are one of the major R&D developments in linac coherent light sources,” said study co-author Dr. Ago Marinelli, a researcher at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
“It's exciting to see these developments applied to new types of experiments and moving attosecond science in new directions.”
Scientists have developed a technique called X-ray attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy in liquids that allows them to “watch” electrons energized by X-rays move into an excited state before larger nuclei move on. “We were able to.
“In principle, we have tools that allow us to track the movement of electrons and watch newly ionized molecules form in real time,” Professor Young said.
The discovery resolves a long-standing scientific debate about whether the X-ray signals observed in previous experiments are the result of different structural shapes or motifs in the mechanics of water or hydrogen atoms.
These experiments conclusively demonstrate that these signals are not evidence of two structural motifs in the surrounding liquid water.
“Essentially, what people were seeing in previous experiments was a blur caused by the movement of hydrogen atoms,” Professor Young explained.
“By recording everything before the atoms moved, we were able to eliminate that movement.”
To make this discovery, the authors used a technique developed at SLAC to spray an ultrathin sheet of pure water across the pulse path of an X-ray pump.
“We needed a clean, flat, thin sheet of water that could focus the X-rays,” said study co-author Dr. Emily Nienhaus, a chemist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Once the X-ray data was collected, the researchers applied their knowledge of interpreting X-ray signals to recreate the signals observed at SLAC.
They modeled the response of liquid water to attosecond X-rays and verified that the observed signal was indeed confined to the attosecond timescale.
“Using the Hyak supercomputer, we developed cutting-edge computational chemistry techniques that enable detailed characterization of transient high-energy quantum states in water,” study co-authors from the University of Washington said Xiaosong Li, a researcher at Pacific Northwest National University. Laboratory.
“This methodological breakthrough represents a pivotal advance in our quantum-level understanding of ultrafast chemical transformations, with extraordinary precision and atomic-level detail.”
The team worked together to peer into the real-time movement of electrons in liquid water.
“The methodology we have developed enables the study of the origin and evolution of reactive species produced by radiation-induced processes encountered in space travel, cancer treatment, nuclear reactors, legacy waste, etc.,” Professor Young said. Stated.
The team's results were published in a magazine science.
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L. Shuai other. 2024. Attosecond Pump Attosecond Probe X-ray Spectroscopy of Liquid Water. science, published online on February 15, 2024. doi: 10.1126/science.adn6059
Robots that can grow around trees and rocks like vines could be used to construct buildings or measure pollution in hard-to-reach natural environments.
Vine-like robots are not new, but they are often designed to rely only on a single sense, such as heat or light, to grow upwards, making them less effective than others in certain environments. It doesn't work well.
Emanuela del Dottore The Italian Institute of Technology and colleagues have developed a new version called FiloBot that can use light, shadow, or gravity as a guide. It grows by wrapping a plastic filament into a cylindrical shape, adding a new layer to the body just behind the head that contains the sensor.
“Our robot has a built-in microcontroller that can process multiple stimuli and direct growth at a precise location, namely at the tip, ensuring that the structure of the body is preserved.” she says.
According to Dottore, having such fine control over the direction of the tip means the robot can easily navigate unfamiliar terrain by wrapping around trees and using shadowed areas of leaves as guideposts. This means that it can be moved.
FiloBot grows at approximately 7 millimeters per minute. Although slower than many traditional robots, this gentler progress could mean less disruption to sensitive natural environments, she says.
The researchers don't know exactly what the robot will be used for at this point, but they hope it can be deployed to collect data in areas that are difficult for humans to reach, such as the tops of trees.
Unlike last year, when a nearly full moon marred the meteor shower, tonight's Geminid meteor shower in 2023 will be spectacular. The Geminid meteor shower peaks at the new moon, so conditions are favorable, and you may benefit from this crisp, cool night. Sunny sky.
Make the most of it this year. That's because next year's 2024 Geminid meteor shower will peak during a full moon, so things won't be as good. The Geminid meteor shower is a great shower to get young astronomers involved in because the showers start relatively early (around 9 pm to 10 pm). and They are colorful!
So how can you find a Geminid? How can you tell them apart from sporadic or Andromedids? What causes the color difference in meteors? Where in the sky are you looking?
If you want to plan ahead for upcoming meteor showers in the UK, be sure to read more in our comprehensive meteor shower guide. If you're looking for more stargazing tips, check out our beginner's guide to astronomy.
When will the Geminid meteor shower occur in 2023?
The Geminid meteor shower will peak tonight, Wednesday, December 13th. This meteor shower will remain visible until December 20, 2023, when it overlaps with the Uruid meteor shower.
The Geminid meteor shower is of reasonable length and is one of the best and most reliable showers throughout the year. It is also one of the most active climates, with its peak extending over several nights from December 12th to 15th. This is helpful when dealing with ever-changing weather.
When is the best time to see the Geminid meteor shower?
Unlike other meteor showers, the Geminid meteor shower has a broad maximum when there is only a short period of time before there is a reliable “best time” for observing. This means you have a better chance of spotting a shooting star.
“The Geminid meteor shower is probably the best of the year, with a high peak of activity in mid-December and a wide range of duration,” says veteran astronomer Pete Lawrence.
“During 2023, the moon will not interfere at all, as it will be a new moon on December 12th. The night peaks will be on December 12/13, 13/14, and 14/15, if the sky is clear. , there can be up to 12 hours of darkness each night,” Lawrence explains.
Under perfect conditions, Gemind's Zenith Hour Rate (ZHR) would be 150. This means you could see up to 120 to 150 meteors per hour at its peak. However, even if there are favorable conditions like this year, the reality is that there is a high possibility that this will not be the case. Still, you can expect to see about 60 meteors per hour, or about 1 to 2 per minute, from around 10 p.m. until dawn.
“At its peak, the Geminid meteor shower's zenith time rate, or the number of meteors you would expect to see under perfect conditions, will be around 120 meteors per hour. In reality, the actual number is lower than this. is lower, but still enough to be impressive,” says Lawrence.
Compared to other meteor showers, the Geminid meteor shower has a relatively moderate speed of 126,000 km/h (78,000 mph), or 35 km/s (22 miles per second).
(The fastest meteors come from the Leonids in November, which is about twice as fast as the Geminids.)
When the Geminid meteor shower was first observed in the mid-1800s, the showers were not as impressive as they are today. There are only about 10 to 20 meteors per hour.. Since then, the number of meteors has increased to about 120 per hour and is still thought to be intensifying each year.
colorful meteor
The Geminid meteor shower is bright and can appear white, yellow, green, and sometimes red, orange, or blue. This is due to the presence of metals that make up the pieces, similar to how we design fireworks to look colorful when they explode.
The air a meteor travels through also affects the colors we see, but it's generally different chemical elements that produce the different colors of meteors. When a meteor enters Earth's atmosphere, these various chemicals ionize and emit light.
Most Geminid meteors appear yellow or white in color. High iron/magnesium ratioBut you might also be able to find purple meteors from calcium-rich debris, or a beautiful blue-green color from magnesium.
Geminid meteor colors and their meanings
yellow: iron, magnesium
Green/Blue: nickel, magnesium
purple: rich in calcium
Blue: Rich in magnesium including ionized calcium
Red and orange: sodium, potassium, nitrogen, oxygen
Where should you look in the sky to see the Geminid meteor shower?
Meteor showers are usually named after the constellation in which their radiant is located. The radiant of a meteor shower refers to the point in the sky where meteors appear to originate. In the case of the Geminid meteor shower, they appear to originate from the Geminid constellation, but this is not the actual “source,” just how we perceive it from Earth . “Perspective effects cause Geminid meteors to be ejected from a location close to the Gemini star Caster during peak activity,” Lawrence says. To find Gemini, look for Orion the Hunter (if you need a refresher, check out our Beginner's Guide to Astronomy). It is easily distinguished by the three bright stars that make up Orion's belt: Mintaka, Alnylam, and Alnitak. If you look up to your left from the constellation Orion, you'll see two bright stars high in the sky: Castor and Pollux. These two stars each represent the twins in the constellation Gemini. The Gemini radiant lies directly above Castor, which is the slightly fainter of her two stars (Pollocks is brighter and more yellow in color).
Pro tip: incorporate as much sky as possible
But for the best chance of seeing more meteors, try to take in as much of the sky as possible. Although the meteors appear to originate from the constellation Gemini, they appear all over the sky. Meteors farther away from the radiant appear to leave longer trails, while meteors closer to the radiant may appear shorter. This is because at the radiant point, the meteor is tilted toward us. Known as “shortening.” Therefore, for the best chance of seeing long-tailed meteors (the result of them traveling further from their source), it's best to look a little further away from the constellation.
How to increase your chances of spotting a Geminid meteor
To make the most of this amazing shower, find a dark spot away from street lights if possible to minimize light pollution. Look for a spot where you can see as much of the sky as possible. Patience is key, as your eyes may take some time to adjust to the darkness. If you plan to spend a long time in the cold night air, a comfortable reclining position and warm clothing are recommended. And, as Lawrence explains, you don't need any special equipment to observe the Geminid meteor shower. “Activities will take place from December 4th to 17th. All you need is your eyes to observe the shower. Wait 20 minutes in the dark before starting your watch. Dress warmly and sit on a sun lounger or Using the equivalent, you can lie down and look up at an altitude of about 60 degrees (two-thirds of the sky) and see large stars and planets to the south in all directions.” If you have a counting counter handy, it's a handy way to keep track of how many meteors you see, especially when there can be as many meteors as there are in the Geminid meteor shower.
Why is this year's Geminid meteor shower so successful?
The 2023 Geminid meteor shower is expected to be the best meteor shower of the year due to the large number of meteors expected and favorable conditions. Moonless nights coincide with the peak, providing optimal viewing conditions. The only thing we have to deal with is the weather. “Some years are good for meteor showers, and others are not so good. The visibility and potential sight of such events depends on the quality of the sky, the degree of light pollution, the presence of the moon, and the local weather. It’s decided,” Lawrence said. “Light pollution and potential weather can be managed by planning ahead and moving locations if conditions are not favorable. It's not so easy to deal with the moon and the sky When it’s big and bright, everything is drowned out by the brightest meteor trails,” he added. Therefore, it is very convenient that the moon does not disturb us this year.
Where did the Geminid meteor shower come from?
The Geminid meteor shower occurs when Earth passes through a stream of dust and debris left behind by comets and asteroids orbiting the sun. But unlike other meteor showers that favor comet debris, the Geminid meteor shower is a little different. “Geminid meteors have a strange origin and are associated with the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Described as 'rocky comets,' these objects typically have sand grain-sized particles scattered around their orbits, which make up the Earth's surface. When it encounters the atmosphere, it evaporates and creates a meteor trail,” Lawrence said. When the Geminid meteor shower peaks between December 12 and 15, that's when we pass through the densest part of the stream. 3200 Phaethon is unique for more than just the fact that most meteor showers are caused by comet debris rather than asteroids. Its orbit brings it closer to the Sun than any other asteroid.
mystery to be solved
Technically, 3200 Phaethon is a near-Earth asteroidHowever, because it exhibits properties of both an asteroid and a comet, many refer to it as a “rocky comet” or even a “dead comet” in some cases. It takes just 1.4 years to go around the sun. a Recent research published in Planetary Science Journal This suggests that it has a tail made of sodium gas, rather than dust as previously thought. (For comparison, most asteroids are composed primarily of rock, so they don't form tails as they approach the Sun.) So if Phaethon has a sodium tail, how could the Geminid meteor shower form? Could it have released other substances? DESTINY+, Missions currently planned for 2025 The purpose is to know. The spacecraft, currently being developed by Japan's space agency JAXA, will perform a flyby of Phaethon and collect samples of dust streams. The mission will also demonstrate technologies that will enable future low-cost, high-frequency deep space exploration.
About our expert Pete Lawrence
Pete Lawrence is an experienced astronomer, astrophotographer and BBC presenter. night sky. You can watch him on BBC Four or catch up on demand on BBC iPlayer.
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